Belconnen Magpies and Greater Western Sydney Giants player Hannah Wallett has seen first hand the meteoric rise of women's sport in Australia.
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But she knows there is plenty of work to be done to bridge the gap between the local scene and the AFL Women's competition.
Wallett returned to club land in the AFL Canberra competition after playing for the Giants in the inaugural AFLW season.
She was supposed to lace up the boots against her GWS teammate Ella Ross this weekend, but the Queanbeyan Tigers star is away in Auckland.
A host of unavailable players has left both clubs scrambling to find enough to fill a team for their clash at The Nest on Saturday.
Both sides have been hit hard by holidays and injuries and reducing player numbers to 16-a-side for the top four clash looks increasingly likely.
The Magpies have even got players racing to the ground after morning appointments to play the second half.
Wallett says it's going to be "a long transition" to ensure the local scene channels the likes of the VFL Women's competition to become a serious launching pad for the AFLW.
"We have a lot of girls playing footy, I think it's the jump between playing social footy and the next level," Wallett said.
"[We're caught with] having a lot of people in the competition that want to play at the next level but [also] having a lot of people that want to just play socially and can go away for a weekend in winter, can organise things, might be feeling sick.
"I think finding the push to get people to not book holidays in winter because it's football season and things like that is going to be a long transition.
"We have the numbers. It's just a matter of getting the girls to think 'footy is my number one priority versus life'. It's hard in a social competition where you're just playing for fun to force girls that don't want to make that decision to then do it."
Wallett has kicked 41 goals in seven games for the Magpies this year, one behind competition leader Karina Demant from Eastlake.
Her Giants teammate Britt Tully has been a star for the Gungahlin Jets, laying the platform for all of AFL Canberra's Giants to potentially lock horns in the finals.
Wallett hopes the local competition can produce a few more AFLW players for the second season, with the draft set to take place in October.
"There's a lot of talent in Canberra and also throughout the surrounding NSW region," Wallett said.
"There's definitely talent out there in the ACT and hopefully they can get a bit of notice throughout the season."
Meanwhile, Belconnen are looking to shore up top spot in the men's competition against Eastlake at Manuka Oval on Saturday.
Premiership contenders Ainslie host the winless Gungahlin Jets at Alan Ray Oval, while across the border the Queanbeyan Tigers face the Tuggeranong Hawks.
AFL CANBERRA ROUND 14
Saturday: Ainslie Tricolours v Gungahlin Jets at Alan Ray Oval, Queanbeyan Tigers v Tuggeranong Hawks at Margaret Donoghoe Oval, Eastlake Demons v Belconnen Magpies at Manuka Oval. All games at 2pm.
